Tuesday, May 8, 2007

how safe is your makeup?

My awesome friend Elizabeth told me about the website, Campaign For Safe Cosmetics. This group is working hard to get the cosmetics industry to stop using toxic and unsafe chemicals in their products. It's a great site with a ton of information, including recipes for homemade products. (I promise to test some out and blog about them soon).

One of the links from this site is to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep. This site offers comprehensive data on the safety of health and beauty products currently available to consumers. Products are given a score between 0-5, 0 being the safest and 5 of highest concern. They rate everything from makeup to hair products to skin products to perfumes to dental products. Basically anything that falls into the health & beauty category.

I don't wear a lot of makeup but I thought I would check out my current staples, the stuff I use every day. Here are the results.

MAC Select Sheer Pressed PowderScore 4.2

It turns out that my powder of choice ranks 172 out of the 175 powders tested. I have been dusting my face daily with carcinogens and immune system toxicants. Nice!

Bonne Bell Eye Definer Eye Liner not on the list

Unfortunately this product is not included on the list. However, other Bonne Bell eye products are rated around the 1.5 mark. Hopefully this is a good sign for my favorite eye liner.

Cover Girl Volume Exact Mascaranot on the list

Again, this one is not on the list but it is a fairly new product. Unfortunately, the Cover Girl mascaras that are listed are not great. Of the 8 types tested the scores range from 2.5 - 3.7. Each of the 8 contain ingredients that are considered toxic. Not a good sign.

Blistex Complete Moisture Lip BalmScore 3.7This one is particularly painful for me as I am addicted to this stuff! My lips are dry all the time. In my youth, my lips would chap so badly that it would extend halfway up my upper lip towards my nose. Not a pretty picture. This is one of the few lip balms that has kept my lips moist. But it actually contains chemicals that are toxic to the liver and kidneys, not to mention the carcinogens. Suddenly, it doesn't seem worth it.

This eyeopening segment was brought to you by the letter "S" for this SUCKS.